EVENTS

Paranoid

As the saying goes, it’s hard not to get paranoid when the whole world is out to get you. We sometimes make fun of believers for complaining about how persecuted they are when they’re the dominant religion in the West, with a hefty political clout and a vast media empire to match. But in a way, they have a point. The whole world is out to get them. Or at least, get their faith. Every time they turn around, something in real life is contradicting their beliefs. They’re the majority, but they can’t find security in numbers, because no matter how big they get, there’s always something bigger and more powerful opposing them.

It’s called “Reality.”

It’s no different than when you think you’re a millionaire, but the bank insists you’ve only got twenty-two dollars in your bank account. Start writing checks for thousands of dollars, and see how long it is before you start feeling persecuted by the bank (and the police, and the merchants you wrote the checks to, and so on). Believers want to make atheists the scapegoats for their paranoia, but atheists can’t do anything about it. Reality is opposing believers because believers are opposing reality, and until that conflict is resolved, the “persecution” isn’t going to get any better.

That’s an interesting topic. I know, to non-self-identifying Christians, the majority of the US is clearly Christian.

But …

Does it look like that to self-identifying Christians? I suspect it does NOT, for much the same reason I began using the term self-identifying Christian. Because, to a self-identifying Christian all wrapped up in their dogma, that individual and the little tiny community of their Church are truly Christian. Nobody else is, really. And even in the larger denominations, persons from other churches, under other pastors, have slightly different beliefs, slightly different views of the Bible …

… which are obviously the teaching of Satan, so they aren’t real Christians.

And the larger and more diverse the community becomes, the less real Christians there are compared to the imposters, the fake Christians, the deluded, the servants of Satan. And of course they don’t count, not as real Christians, that is, the ones who are in apparent dogmatic agreement.

I say apparent, because I’ve come to suspect that every single self-identifying Christian has their own private religion they call Christianity. And in that sense, Christianity — true Christianity — is a religion of one.

So, does it make more sense why self-identifying Christians think of themselves as a vulnerable minority, subject to vicious persecution by everyone around them? It’s because they are! It’s just a sad truth that the majority of that persecution comes from other self-identifying Christians who are ironically feeling just as persecuted themselves.

There’s a lot of truth in what you say, but we have to be wary of saying “Christians must not believe X because they believe Y which contradicts X.” Faith gives believers the ability to hold lots of mutually contradictory beliefs, so they have no trouble at all asserting both that Christianity deserves a privileged position because Christians are the majority in America AND that America is a godless nation with only a struggling remnant who are truly faithful in the midst of persecution.

Wow, what a lovely moment of clarity, thank you! I always thought their persecution complex was baggage from their persecuted history along with not wanting to give up their privilege. This makes perfect sense; they can’t blame god for all those devilishly contrary realities.